don't forget Dellin Betances, 20 yo fireballer straight outta Brooklyn:
http://ohholycow.blogspot.com/2008/03/7-prospect-dellin-betances.html
#7 Prospect: Dellin Betances
Age: 20 DOB- March 23rd, 1988
Height: 6-8
Weight: 215
Position: Starting Pitcher
Betances, a Brooklyn native, was selected in the 8th round of 2006 Amateur Draft out of Grand Street High School. In his Junior season at Grand Street, Betances flat out Dominated. In 41.2 innings of masterful pitching, Betances went 6-0 with a 0.17 ERA, 100 strikeouts, 11 hits, and 22 walks. Pure Insanity. A first round talent, Betances fell to the 8th round due to rumors that he would only sign with the Yankees. If he was to be drafted by another team, Betances would have been headed to Vanderbilt University where he had already committed to play college ball. Sure enough, he was picked by the Yankees and "persuaded" with one million dollars to come start his professional career early.
Betances has freakishly good stuff. He easily sits in the 93-95 mph range and can crank it upwards to 98 mph. Due to his tall stature, his fastball has an excellent downward plane and absolutely filthy movement. His knuckle-curve is also considered a plus pitch, but he still has trouble locating it. He also throws a change-up which is average right now, but has the potential to be plus too. His control is suspect, but he is big guy which means alot of moving parts in his mechanics, something which is easily corrected.
In his first season as a pro ball player, Betances continued to dominate. With a little mechinal help from Nardi Contreras, "Baby Unit" was repeating his delivery, something that usually isn't easy with big guys. In the GCL, the young stud pitched 23.1 innings with 27 K's, 7 BB, 14 hits allowed, and 3 ER. After his succesful stint at the GCL, Dellin started his second season with the SI Yanks where things didn't turn out as well. In 25 innings of work, he allowed 24 H, 10 ER, 27 K's, 17 BB. The Yankees then shut him down for the season due to elbow inflammation which sent Farm fanatics everywhere into a panic. Fans breathed a collective sigh of relief though when they found out that Betances in fact did not need Tommy John surgery.
Betances will start the 2008 Minor League season in Charleston, where he joins the most talented team in MILB. He should be poised for a big year, as he has been working with Nardi during most of the offseason working out the major kinks in his mechanics. Betances' ceiling is off the charts. He has all the potential to be an ace in major league baseball but he is still very, very raw. Hopefully for the Yankees sake, he can finally nail down his mechanics, his control, and master his change-up. We have a stud on our hands if everything works out right.
Posted by TMS:
Posted by Bonn1997:
Posted by TMS:
Posted by Bonn1997:
Posted by TMS:
so what do u do w/Matsui & Damon? both are having stellar seasons too... i guess u could move Melky over to RF & put Damon back in CF & let Abreu walk, but that would make our D much worse if u ask me.
[Edited by - TMS on 06-09-2008 5:13 PM]
Melky's just not a good enough hitter to be an every day CFer. The 200 point difference in his and Damon's OPS more than makes up for any difference in their fielding (it's really just Damon's arm, actually, not his fielding). He's a good option as a 4th outfielder off the bench, though. He's in the bottom 20% of qualifying CFers in on-base and slugging percentage. That said, I wouldn't say I'm comfortable with Damon as the every day CFer but I'd be even less comfortable with losing our best on base % hitter and probably 2nd best slugger for nothing, especially when the team's offense is this bad.
but we wouldn't be losing him for nothing, whoever signs him would have to give up a draft pick... we got guys like Phil Hughes & Joba Chamberlain that way through compensatory picks we attained after guys like Andy Pettitte & Tom Gordon signed w/other teams as free agents.
I don't think a draft pick is gonna come in and give us 35 HR with a .400 OB%. So that's still a huge void to fill next season. If Teixeira hits here next seasons evenly with how Giambi hits this season, then that's no net gain to our offense and we're still stuck with a mediocre offensive team that's been outscored by its opponents for the season.
Bonn, u realize we're gonna have to give up a draft pick or 2 to sign Mark T in the first place? u want this team to be competitive now while building up our youthful core, but how do u expect to do that by holding onto our aging vets, signing high priced FA's & giving up our draft picks?
if we let Giambi sign someplace else, the draft pick(s) we gain from that will make up for the ones we lose in signing Texeiria... Texeiria can easily fill a 35 HR void in any lineup & gives u gold glove calibre defense & switch hitting ability to boot... we won't miss Giambi in this lineup if we sign him, believe me... if u want a .400 OBP guy on the roster it makes more sense to keep Abreu since he can at least hold down the RF spot for another year until either Tabata or Jackson are ready to hit the main stage & will steal u some bases as well... plus he's 3 years younger than Giambi, who's gonna be 38 yo next season.
Abreu's OBP is at .349 (basically right around the team average). The key issue is this team cannot just stand pat offensively if the goal is to win a WS. They're currently getting outscored by their opponents. Just replacing one good hitter with another (Giambi with Teixeira) logically won't change that.
this year his OBP has dipped a bit, but his career OBP is just about the same as Giambi's, both over .400 for their careers, & has a better career BA as well... Giambi has been up & down a lot of late, this year he's on a tear but how long is that going to last? he's going to expect big dollars after this year & at 38 years of age there's no way i make that investment when there are guys like Mark T out there that are a much younger & more sensible options for us at this point... & again, if u sign both those guys, we're losing out on draft picks & u have a much weaker defensive OF w/Damon in CF & Matsui in LF, not to mention less resources available to go after a bigname starting pitcher like Sabathia.
how do u reasonably expect the Yankees to meet all your stated expectations & still keep their payroll from ballooning up to historic levels every year? aren't u the one who hates the fact we keep spending to sign up aging overpaid veterans & not focusing on building up our youthful core? don't discount the importance of those lost draft picks... i already mentioned who we got w/picks like that... the Red Sox also got Clay Buchholtz that way when Pedro signed w/the Mets.
It really just depends on what the goal is for next year. Is it to win or at least make it to the WS? Or is it just to show a little progress, even if that doesn't entail advancing in the playoffs, and to keep rebuilding for the long-term?
Posted by islesfan:
Posted by djsunyc:
hughes, joba, ipk, melancon, cox, tabata, montero, gardner, etc...
our young crew is STACKED.
our pitching staff looks to become a dynasty ala the braves in the 90's. it's going to take some time...but it will get there...
You left out our starting CFer for the next decade, Austin Jackson and power arms Sanchez and first round pick Gerrit Cole.
our minor league system is most definitely stacked.
yankees in about 2 years may be fielding a new dynasty team...
Posted by Bonn1997:
It really just depends on what the goal is for next year. Is it to win or at least make it to the WS? Or is it just to show a little progress, even if that doesn't entail advancing in the playoffs, and to keep rebuilding for the long-term?
i don't get it, ur stated goals have been to win now & build up the youthful core at the same time... that won't happen if you keep re-signing 38 yo veterans to big contracts & giving up draft picks to other teams... signing a younger more versatile Mark T in place of Giambi & gaining the draft picks from whichever team chooses to sign Giambi addresses both aspects w/o sacrificing the other... this is why i say i would probably let Jason go, as good of a year he's having right now.
Posted by TMS:
Posted by Bonn1997:
It really just depends on what the goal is for next year. Is it to win or at least make it to the WS? Or is it just to show a little progress, even if that doesn't entail advancing in the playoffs, and to keep rebuilding for the long-term?
i don't get it, ur stated goals have been to win now & build up the youthful core at the same time... that won't happen if you keep re-signing 38 yo veterans to big contracts & giving up draft picks to other teams... signing a younger more versatile Mark T in place of Giambi & gaining the draft picks from whichever team chooses to sign Giambi addresses both aspects w/o sacrificing the other... this is why i say i would probably let Jason go, as good of a year he's having right now.
Well if they'd been doing that all decade they'd be able to add youth and keep their veterans at the same time. But since Cashman and Steinbrenner spent this decade screwing up, now we're forced to focus on one or the other.
signing Mark T & letting Giambi go focuses on both... & right now we have 1 of the best farm systems in the game thanks to Cashman & Steinbrenner... let's give the young talent a little time to develop before we say they screwed things up... we can't be in the WS every year.
How does it focus on both? How does it make us immediately better? Teixeira's a better fielder and Giambi's right now is the better hitter. I see no net gain for the present.
i guess other than the fact that Mark T is 9 years younger, plays defense miles beyond anything Giambi could ever be capable of, is a switch hitter & puts up comparable offensive stats over his career (career BA of .285 compared to Giambi's .288... career OPS of .903 compared to Giambi's .948), i guess i see ur point here.
Posted by TMS:
i guess other than the fact that Mark T is 9 years younger, plays defense miles beyond anything Giambi could ever be capable of, is a switch hitter & puts up comparable offensive stats over his career (career BA of .285 compared to Giambi's .288... career OPS of .903 compared to Giambi's .948), i guess i see ur point here.
Age refers to the future, not the present. I thought *both* meant short-term and long-term. Giambi's better on offense (career-wise and this season) and Teixeira's better on defense. I don't see any net gain for the present and still don't see how you can say replacing Giambi with Teixeira would address *both* the present and the future. If you'd said that it does nothing in terms of net-gain for the short-term but should help in the long-term, I would have agreed. (The problem is that the team needs short-term help, not solely long-term help.)
dude, they're similar in terms of offense over their careers as i just pointed out... then u factor in the difference in defensive ability, age & the switch hitting factor & i think it's a significant upgrade overall at 1B... if u disagree that's ur prerogative... u asked me for clarification on my statements & that's what i'm giving u... & as i said before, the draft picks could net us some very nice prospects in the long run also.
Similar on offense? You just posted a 50 point OPS advantage for Giambi. That's not gigantic (although the 130 point difference this year is) but it's enough that Giambi is the superior offensive player. You're certainly entitled to your opinion but statistically I think it's a clear downgrade on offense and upgrade on defense. I'd see it as roughly evening out and the team getting no net gain. If the concern is solely with the long-term and the Yankees don't care about the playoff outcome of next season, then the right decision is definitely to let Giambi go and gain a draft pick. If you think it's an overall upgrade even in the short-term, though, how much better do you think the Yankees record would be this year if they had Teixeira instead of Giambi?
[Edited by - bonn1997 on 06-11-2008 10:38 PM]
if the Yankees were unconcerned about making the playoffs they wouldn't even spend the money to bring Mark T here to begin with... they'd go full on w/the youth movement... the Yankees goal is to be competitive every year... they can do that by replacing Giambi w/Mark T & using the rest of their resources to sign a frontline starting pitcher... unless they choose not to re-sign Matsui thereby opening up a role at DH for Jason (fat chance of that happening when Matsui generates all those international marketing bucks for them) then Jason's the odd man out... that's just the reality of the situation... the only other option is to start defensively challenged Damon in CF, moving Melky to RF & letting Abreu walk.
i tell u what Bonn... i wouldn't even mind if we let Abreu walk at this point & kept Jason, moving Melky to RF... Bobby's defense has been shoddy at best this season & looks like he's losing 2 steps in his range... he's letting a lotta balls drop in where he would have normally gotten to before.
Posted by djsunyc:
Posted by islesfan:
Posted by djsunyc:
hughes, joba, ipk, melancon, cox, tabata, montero, gardner, etc...
our young crew is STACKED.
our pitching staff looks to become a dynasty ala the braves in the 90's. it's going to take some time...but it will get there...
You left out our starting CFer for the next decade, Austin Jackson and power arms Sanchez and first round pick Gerrit Cole.
our minor league system is most definitely stacked.
yankees in about 2 years may be fielding a new dynasty team...
2010 New York Yankees
C Jorge Posada
1B Mark Texeira
2B Robinson Cano
SS Derek Jeter
3B Alex Rodriguez
LF/DH Carl Crawford
CF Austin Jackson
RF Jose Tabata or Melky Cabrera
DH/LF Matt Holiday
SP Joba Chamberlain
SP Chien Ming Wang
SP Erik Bedard
SP Phil Hughes
SP Andrew Brackman
RP Mariano Rivera
RP Mark Melancon
RP J.B. Cox
RP Humberto Sanchez
Team Payroll - approximately $200M
[Edited by - islesfan on 12-06-2008 12:33 AM]
lol... Matt Holiday? where'd he come from? he's a FA in 2010? & didn't the Rays just re-up Crawford? or was that Kaz?
y would u want Bedard? he's a flop in SEA.
2010 New York Yankees
C Jorge Posada
1B Mark Texeira
2B Robinson Cano
SS Derek Jeter
3B Alex Rodriguez
LF/DH Austin Jackson
CF Brett Gardner
RF Jose Tabata or Melky Cabrera
DH/LF Hideki Matsui (he will be re-signed)
SP CC Sabathia L
SP Joba Chamberlain R
SP Chien Ming Wang R
SP Phil Hughes R
SP Andrew Brackman R
RP Mariano Rivera
RP J.B. Cox
RP Mark Melancon
RP Alan Horne
RP Ross Ohlendorff
[Edited by - TMS on 06-11-2008 10:13 PM]
Posted by TMS:
lol... Matt Holiday? where'd he come from? he's a FA in 2010? & didn't the Rays just re-up Crawford? or was that Kaz?
y would u want Bedard? he's a flop in SEA.
Crawford has a club option in 2010, so i guess it's possible.
Holiday is a FA, so yeah, he'd be a nice target that offseason... i don't see the Rockies letting him go tho... they'll probably sign him up longterm... then again, his agent is Scott Boras...
[Edited by - TMS on 06-11-2008 10:14 PM]
Posted by TMS:
lol... Matt Holiday? where'd he come from? he's a FA in 2010? & didn't the Rays just re-up Crawford? or was that Kaz?
y would u want Bedard? he's a flop in SEA.
Why not Holliday? Rockies won't be able to afford him and he's a FA after next season. The Yankees will have tons of cash to spend with all the big contracts coming off and using a lot of young players. If Crawford did re-up, my bad. Just trying to fill in the blanks with FA offensive players. They could just as easily re-sign Matsui for a year or 2 at a reasonable salary to be the DH.
As for Bedard, I think he's just having a bad year with one of the worst teams in baseball. He's a very good pitcher when he's right, we'd be looking at him as a #2 or 3 starter and most importantly he's lefty. If he finally got to pitch for a good team and in a park tailored for lefty pitchers, I think he'd be terrific. 15-18 wins a year easily.
i think we'll be hard after Sabathia this offseason, so he'll likely be on our roster by 2010 if that happens.
Holliday would be awesome & since Boras is his agent he'll go to the highest bidder... i guess it's possible... that would keep either Austin J or Jose T from playing tho cuz i do think Matsui will be re-signed to at least a 2 year deal.
Crawford is a possibility if the Rays don't pick up his $10m option in 2010... distinct possibility but we can't have em all obviously.
